Ten 2016 Books I Missed

I love putting together this post every year because it forces me to reexamine my TBR list. I decide whether I’m still interested in reading all the backlist books on my list and remove the ones I’m no longer interested in or can’t remember much about. These are some of the books that made the cut…

Ten 2016 Books I Missed

Adnan’s Story by Rabia ChaudryI was fascinated by the Serial podcast and Catherine at Gilmore Guide to Books raved about this follow-up book. I bought the audio during Audible’s holiday sale…I figured I might as well continue this story in audio form.

All Things Cease to Appear by Elizabeth BrundageSusie at Novel Visits included this mystery on her Best Books of 2016 list and called it “a dark story about two families in a very small town,” which sounds right up my alley.

Dark Matter by Blake CrouchThis sci-fi novel is 100% out of my wheelhouse, but Carrie Lippert (a TV host and travel blogger, who is also a big reader with taste similar to mine) said it was a sci-fi novel that would appeal to people that aren’t normally fans of that genre.

Forty Autumns by Nina WillnerI’ve always been fascinated by life behind the Iron Curtain and Eva at Paperback Princess put this true story of a family separated by the Berlin Wall on my radar with her review during Nonfiction November.

Imagine Me Gone by Adam HaslettCatherine at Gilmore Guide recommended this novel about the effects of depression on a family and then I saw it on numerous Best Books of 2016 lists.

Private Citizens by Tony TulathimutteMonika at Lovely Bookshelf‘s review of this novel about college grads living in San Francisco put it on my radar and I’ve since seen it on multiple Best Books of 2016 lists.

Sarah Dickinson

Imagine Me Gone went to my DNF list. I just could not get into the story, though now I wish I’d given it a little longer. The Sound of Glass does sound very interesting, and Mothering Sunday I’m very curious about now.

Sarah Dickinson

Dark Matter and The Sound of Gravel are both books I meant to read then promptly forgot about. Especially after hearing The Sound of Gravel be raved about over on my trusted npr podcasts, hopefully soon 🙂

Sarah Dickinson

Thanks for the shout out! I think you will love Forty Autumns. I still think about it often – especially about the author’s grandparents.
Dark Matter was really good too. I don’t normally read the genre either but this was a thrill ride that I really enjoyed.
I’ve added Imagine Me Gone to my list! And I like the idea of listening to the rest of Adnan’s story via audio…maybe my first audiobook?

Sarah Dickinson

I missed all of those too! Of these books I do want to read Imagine Me Gone, and I hope I can get to it, one of the downsides of book blogging is spending too much time looking forward. The Sound of Gravel sounds very interesting!!
I hope you find time for all these books.

Sarah Dickinson

Forty Autumns is on my list as well for this year. There’s a group of bloggers who are planning to read both Hillbilly Elegy and Strangers in Their Own Land, so I have both of those to look forward to. (Your comment about John Le Carre made me smile!)

Sarah Dickinson

Imagine Me Gone is one that I wish I had gotten to. And I would like to try Dark Matter, despite the fact that it is out of my wheelhouse. I’ll be moving my books soon and can only imagine the titles from the past that I will uncover!

Sarah Dickinson

I hate doing this list every year because it forces me to reexamine my TBR list and see the absolutely insane number of books I still really want to read! 😉

I LOVED “Dark Matter” and I totally agree that it’s accessible to all readers, not just sci-fi fans. It’s part science fiction, part thriller and part love story, and it’s also completely engrossing! I think you should move it toward the top of your list!

The only other book I’ve read (so far) from your list is “The Sound of Gravel.” It was certainly an interesting story and worthy of a read, but I was left with a lot of lingering questions.

Sarah Dickinson

It is called Undisclosed and is by her and two lawyers. They discuss one theme or aspect of Adnan’s case in each episode, and it is really good. The first few episodes are a bit shaky, but give it a chance! (I actually preferred it over Serial)

Sarah Dickinson

I list of books I *meant* to and *wanted* to read in 2016 is insurmountable. I think at the top of my list are Homegoing, Shelter, and The Underground Railroad. Those seem to be three biggies I totally missed out on. Hope you can squeeze a few of these in 🙂

Sarah Dickinson

Lauren

Four of these are also on my shelf waiting. Let’s see if we can both get them done! Re Adnan, I loved the podcast but felt I wanted to see things on paper. So I did get the audio, but the kindle book was on sale for $2, so I bought it and thought I might do a readalong with myself. Hoping that helps, this case is so fact intensive.

Mothering Sunday is on my list. And now so is The Sound of Gravel – polygamy and cults! (And also the child standing directly under the title of the book looks just like me when I was a kid… even though I can’t tell if it’s a girl or boy… I had short hair a lot, so you couldn’t tell what I was either. 🙂

I missed all of these book as well … Private Citizens and Strangers In Their Own Land are languishing on my bookshelves. Mothering Sunday is hiding out in my kindle cloud. Thanks for this post — good reminder that there are some good reads waiting for me.

Sarah Dickinson

Haha – obviously!! And I finished Imagine last night…really liked it. 4 stars. Like the second half better. Michael’s incessant music talk was annoying. I understand the purpose, I’m just not a music person and didn’t care. Now if he’d been obsessed with books…

Sarah Dickinson

I’m so torn on Dark Matter. I’ve heard really conflicting things about it and because it’s already outside of my normal genres, I’m hesitant (I even checked it out from the library and returned it unread). Let me know what you think!

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